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Labor Specialization, Transport Costs, and City Size
Author(s) -
Duranton Gilles
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1467-9787
pISSN - 0022-4146
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4146.00110
Subject(s) - economies of agglomeration , urbanization , agriculture , economic geography , economics , labor mobility , natural resource economics , geography , labour economics , microeconomics , economic growth , archaeology
This paper proposes a simple model of pre‐industrial urbanization. Agglomeration stems from increasing returns generated by the specialization of labor, whereas dispersion is provoked by the transport costs of the agricultural good. Considering the existence of some urban institutions (in particular guilds), the equilibrium size of cities is derived and it is efficient. Within this framework, the effects of urban domination (e.g., taxation of agriculture) and the emergence of primate cities are explored. Finally, the transition between early and modern urbanization is studied.